School Changed FAFSA Question

<p>We received an e-mail today that the school has made corrections on my son's FAFSA. How do I know what was changed? Our EFC stayed the same - we did not estimate so our numbers were correct. I do know that we were "chosen" for verification and I don't know if that has anything to do with the corrections.</p>

<p>Is there a way to know exactly what was updated? I know that my son said he would file taxes but his income was so little that he decided not to. </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>go to the fafsa website and look at the new version and compare it to the previous version to see what changed</p>

<p>Thanks sueinphilly. I did that earlier and I didn’t see anything different. There was a message that son needed to update his tax filing status.</p>

<p>you can also called the FA office and they could most likely tell you. Did your EFC change, maybe they just changed the tax filing status??</p>

<p>The school may have changed your son’s college ‘year’ if he had a lot of AP/dual enrollment credits. My D1’s college changed her FAFSA this year because although she’ll begin her 2nd year in August, credit-wise she’s categorized as a second semester junior.</p>

<p>There are a number of small changes a financial aid officer might make during verification that will not change the EFC. If the EFC didn’t change, there is no need to dig any further. I have been verifying my fingers off lately, and I have encountered very few files that didn’t require some small changes.</p>

<p>And then there was the one I verified using the wrong student’s info … I realized it halfway through … so I had to change it all back. I didn’t actually change any of the student’s info (it had been one of the few “clean” files that day), but changes were made. That’s what happens when the phone rings in the middle of verification!</p>

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<p>What was the filing status your son used? If it was “will file”, then he needs to amend the FAFSA to reflect either “taxes completed” (or whatever it says indicating the taxes are done), or “will not file” (if he doesn’t need to file his taxes).</p>

<p>Until he does one of the above, his financial aid application will “look” like it’s an estimate…I would think.</p>

<p>That may be the change that was made to the FAFSA by the FA Office. If it was “will file” and the verification documents indicated either a filed return or a “will not file” situation, they would have to change the FAFSA question. </p>

<p>When reviewing the new SAR, look for the symbols, either a # or a *… that will indicate exactly where the change occurred. Look at everything because it could be as kelsmom stated, something very minute, especially since it did not change the EFC.</p>

<p>If your son’s file was verified, he should have submitted some kind of info indicating that he did not file taxes. The school would not have been able to complete the verification without it. And when they verified, they would have been notified that your son would not be fling … and they should have updated his FAFSA to reflect that he did not file. Did the school tell you he was being verified, or was that just a note on your FAFSA? Not all schools verify every student selected by the feds for verification. But if your son was selected by the school for verification, you should have been required to turn in tax forms/nonfiler statements for both you & him.</p>

<p>My son is transferring to a private school. His current university (public) did verify. He did all the paperwork for both schools in case something didn’t work out with the transfer school. We did have to send in tax returns to the private school. I think the issue is that he decided not to file his taxes. He made about $1000. Both schools do have the complete tax forms, etc. and just the copy of his W2. </p>

<p>There is a note that says he needs to change his FAFSA because of the filing status. He went on and changed that. Otherwise, everything is the same. The school did not change his status.</p>